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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

[INTERVIEW] Anstractor: Vestalia, by Greg Dragon

Sci-Fi Romance

Date Published: 1/6/2014

Born an outcast, raised a soldier, and chosen as a savior. Rafian VCA is humanity's only hope against a vicious new race of predators aimed at taking over the galaxy of Anstractor. In Anstractor: Vestalia, the first book by author Greg Dragon, the planet of Vestalia has been completely taken over by the Geralos. After losing their home and being forced into space, the revengeful Marines of Vestalia decide to take the fight back to the Geralos and win their planet back.

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Awwww, yeah. Now that's what I'm talking about. An awesome-looking military sci-fi! I can't wait to read this one. Also a fist-bump to Greg, who is a fellow Floridian.

Read on for the interview and excerpt!

Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

- What is your name? Greg Dragon- What is your quest? To add my voice to the life-stream of fictional literature.- What is your favorite color? Garnet Red

Just kidding, there are more than 3 questions.

Which orifice did you pull this story from (from whence did the inspiration come)?
My Imaginative arse?

What was the most difficult thing about writing Anstractor?
I am writing to represent a multiverse of several galaxies, Anstractor is but one galaxy. Each galaxy has its planets, each planet has its continents and each continent has its people. There are hundreds of races, species, looks and customs. There are political differences, exotic technology, languages, all of which I need to keep track of and reference accurately throughout the various stories. Had I written a book about earth, or something we all know about historically then it would have been a bit easier since all I would have had to focus on was the characters and the situations.

What was something you learned while writing Anstractor?
People don’t take you seriously until you’ve actually put the book in print. While there may be people who feel a certain way about Indie Authors, the general populace still look at books as huge undertakings that only a select few mad men and women create. This seems even more evident when it is a story of your own creation versus a self-help book, or an extension of your blog. During my writing only 2-3 people cared to ask about my project but once it was available in paperback I was given a lot of support. It is still strange to me how many people are even more excited for my book than I am.

What do you love the most about Anstractor?
The characters. I love my main guy, I love his team, and I love the brain-eating aliens that stole his planet. Giving people individual personalities and having them interact is a beautiful thing. People who read Anstractor will probably talk more about the characters than any of the cool fights (which I am really proud of) or technology.

What do you hate the most about Anstractor?
It is the marketing part of the beast that breaks a book and it is such a monstrous beast that it takes away from your writing. I have to be pushing Anstractor constantly so that it gets read by a multitude of people and unfortunately that takes up time that could be spent building worlds.

What are your future plans as an author?
To grow my readership and continue to write. I am a huge fan of history, particularly gangland America so I may work on a historical fiction piece eventually but only after the full story of Anstractor has been told.

Give us your favorite blurb (paragraph/scene) from the story.Val had come over to where Rafian sat in deep thought and plopped down across from him to begin talking. “Let me guess Marine, you’re probably thinking of that pretty girlfriend of yours.”

Rafian had to smile at the accusation.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked, but Val didn’t return the smile like Rafian assumed he would. “Well, I know you haven’t been thinking of her while fighting these things, but check your thoughts when you do. The lizards have consumed enough pureblood Vestalian women to where some have been gifted with the ability to read us and put thoughts into our heads. I had it happen to me once when I sat on my gun thinking of Chelle, and some recon spucha bastard gave me visions of her being tortured and killed. I wondered where the hell that level of thought came from, and thought it was the war y’know screwing with me.” Rafian was intrigued and horrified at the same time. “So these guys have us outmanned, outgunned, and can put thoughts into our heads now?” he asked Val, but not in a way that Val could answer. “How exactly are we even winning on this moon with those odds?” Rafian mused.

Val gave a mocking laugh, injected a ration bar into his mask, and sat back chewing for a while, as if the question was worth considering.

“Who knows Raf, maybe they’re letting us win for some greater strategy. But remember what I told you, in case you’re ever alone with one of them. You should keep Vani and her memory off of the battlefield where she’s safe.”

Rafian nodded and thanked his friend. Val then went on to make fun of him for having a thing for bad girls, a joke that apparently had made its rounds to Missio-tral from all the friends who knew him.

“Vani’s not a bad girl Val. What has she done to anyone besides being annoying?”

Val looked genuinely surprised.

“What!? Do you not know why they made her a button-pushing navigator instead of the admiral path that she was pursuing?” Rafian shook his head, sadly awaiting what he assumed would be disappointing news.

“Well, your woman punched out the Cadet Commander after they had words one night and the woman was carted out to receive multiple zaps to her face to keep her pretty. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about this. Look at you, thinking that you had a gentle wildflower all this time. It got bad man, you must’ve been on a mission or something, but princess had to call mommy and daddy to bail her out, as the Commander was a step away from shooting her out of an airlock for assaulting an officer. Her parents are powerful people so she got away with it, but you need to watch your back with Vani Narcila, that girl has a temper on her!”Rafian chuckled. “She didn’t tell me about any of this when I got back with Aurora.” “See…you and bad girls man! First with Kim the Terrible, and now with Violent Vani. Hell if you and Vani don’t work out, you can holler at Rueche SYN, the girl who tried to blow up the ship after she failed out of Special Operations.” “Ha!” Rafian looked at Val and smiled.

“What about Vestalia? Is she a bad girl?” he asked, still thinking of her beautiful face grimacing from the stasis. Val got serious and made to get to his feet as he answered.

“You’re not her type Raf. Trust me, Vani would get her before you would. Either way I’m gonna go take advantage of this chance to sleep buddy. If I were you, I would do the same.”

--About the Author:

Greg Dragon

Greg Dragon hails from sunny South Florida and has worked in the creative field for several years. He has written extensively on the web with articles on gaming and lifestyle improvement and continues to do so on several websites.